


Vengeance

by thedas_scribe (wshall)



Series: Shepard's Shorts [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Blue Suns, Eldfell-Ashland Energy, F/M, Gen, Geth Ship, Illium - Freeform, Jonus, Novella, Post-Mass Effect 3, Revenge, diner, omega - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-27 05:40:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10802886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wshall/pseuds/thedas_scribe
Summary: Zaeed Massani is ready for payback, and Marley Shepard is ready to fulfill her promise of helping him.





	1. Chapter 1

July 25, 2187

Nothing is Sacred by Gretel Batts reverberated through the rafters at Afterlife's VIP lounge. It was his first single since leaving the Dramaxeens, debuting at #1 on the charts. Marley Shepard was unamused. Her taste in music was more geared toward urban cyberpunk, which was a mashup of synthwave and grime rap. Zaeed Massani found it funny how Marley, who was fairly straight-laced and rarely cussed, listened to such filthy and almost evil music. He also found it ironic that she seemed to blend right in with the crowds in such dregs like Afterlife -- even if it was the VIP lounge.

"Glad you made it," he said, taking a seat across from her. She stirred her screwdriver slushie and eyed him without turning her head up. "I can't believe you'd come around again for this old bastard."

"You or Santiago?" Her reply made him choke a bit, as she was always quick with her snark.

"Both I suppose. But I'm gaddam glad I got a second chance at 'eem, and even more glad we found where he's been fuckin' around for the past two years."

"Whadda ya know?" She took a long sip from the stir straw, then winced at the ensuing brain freeze. "Uff."

"I know he's still with the Blue Suns. I know he's still connected to Eldfell-Ashland. Workin' for 'em or somethin." He waved for an asari server to come to their table, selected one of the more colorful drinks from her tray, and flashed his credit chit. "Thank ya, sweetheart." He took a drink and continued, "as I was saying, Vido's got somethin' goin' down with Eldfell, and I've got 'eem narrowed down to Jonus."

"But that's a gas planet." 

"Methane and ammonia, yeah." 

"There's what, three moons around Jonus?"

"More like five, but who's counting. Two of 'em have refineries, and there's a fuel depot that orbits the planet as well." He took another drink. "Got a damn nice diner, there, too. With a damn fine asari working the counter."

"You and your asari," Marley grinned, taking another long sip through the stir straw. 

"Ha! You and your asari, you mean?" 

Marley didn't reply, but her face flushed with mild self-awareness.

"How is Liara doin', anyway?"

"I don't know, actually..." Marley's voice trailed off until it blended with the background. Zaeed struggled to hear her say, "the last time I saw her, I had a ventilator down my throat, and she let me know everyone on the Normandy was okay. Then she vanished."

"Probably doin' work for the Shadow Broker, then..." Like he didn't know. His voice was just as quiet as Marley's, though. He slipped her a napkin with something scribbled on it. "Listen, I gotta go. Meet me there no later than five am sharp. Show up ready for a fight. We'll talk plans when we get in." He got up, patted her on the shoulder, uttering "see you 'round, sweetie," then left the lounge. 

Marley picked up the napkin and observed the address as being somewhere in or near the Gozu District. 'Hmm,' she thought. 'The old Blue Suns territory...' She flashed her chit at the autopay till at the table, and left the lounge. 'I better get some sleep.'

She opened her eyes with a flash of energy, as the night before was a blur, since she flipped her internal switch from wired to tired and crashed, fully clothed, almost immediately. The one room apartment was a gift from Aria for helping her retake Omega, and its tiny size was exactly what Marley prefered. Offering little more than the bed, a coffee pot on a desk and a vid screen on the adjacent wall, and providing less color than a hospital room, in about three tones of metallic gray and a black marbled floor, it served as her temporary place of residence during her administrative leave after the Reaper War. 

The idle time that her ensuing recovery gave her created a petri dish of fresh loneliness and steady-growing fears, fears that had no way of being squelched, since she couldn't even go for a run. Her mental state deteriorated to a point that the Alliance Brass, Hackett specifically, demanded she take 90 days to recenter herself. Those 90 days turned into six months, and in that time, she remembered she was a Spectre, and piracy was still running rampant with the post-war profiteering.

That having been said, the only armor she had that was officially hers was a set of Cerberus Ajax armor that Miranda Lawson had given her, a matching Alliance standard issue helmet, and her green and red kuwashii visor from the Reaper War. She had her black widow sniper, a locust SMG, and an M-6 carnifex pistol for good measure. All of it fit in a go bag with an alliance crew cargo uniform. She stripped naked, then made coffee, drank it black while in the shower, put her hoodie and sweats in the go bag, suited up in the Ajax and Kuwashii, and equipped all but the locust before leaving. She stopped halfway to the stairwell, ran back and got her locust, then left again.

Shepard padded softly down three levels of concrete steps, then checked her omnitool for the time. 4:44. By her estimation, Massani would be checking in within the next two minutes. She glanced through the tiny square in the door, which was wire grating, not glass, and spied three Blue Suns mercenaries by a door. Two were seated on stools, and the other was standing. She couldn't see the weapons on the two that were seated, but the one standing had a vindicator. Three shots per trigger pull. Easy dodge if she played her cards right. She felt a tingle in her lower abdomen just thinking about the ensuing firefight. Killing didn't excite her; rather, the fear of being killed encited a fire from her solar plexus -- a fire that burned with a will to live.

"Shepard, do you see 'em?" Zaeed's voice came up over her omnitool's neural transmitter. 

"The one standing is facing me, Zaeed."

"Okay, I'm in the hall to your right. Ladies first." 

"Roger that." She cloaked and opened the door, and all three stood up and readied their weapons. The other two had M-8 avengers. Also easy dodges. When the door closed, the one with the vindicator started her direction. Ten seconds left in cloak. She took aim of the one closest to the wall, fired, and the round buzzed clean through his helmet. The vindicator merc turned to look, which provided enough distraction to hurl a cryo blast in his gut, freezing him immediately. A shot from Zaeed's paladin shattered the guard's frozen corpse into a million tiny pieces. Before Marley could take aim at the third, Zaeed aimed his omnibow at him, firing, plunging all five glowing orange arrows directly in his chest. 

"Well done." Marley shook his hand and he turned to enter the code in the door's lock mechanism. 

"That's the thing about these Blue Sun bastids," he said, opening the door with ease, "they may kick you off their team, but they always forget to take you off the fucking mailing list. Nobody comes here for work until six, so we have time." He casually led her down a hallway, then into the last room on the right. On the wall was a huge terminal flanked by two smaller ones on either side. "The war room. Tells you where everyone is, when they are leaving, when they are returning..." He looked at Marley. "If they are returning. It shows you who they are watching...interesting, Barla Von on the watch list? No matter. Vido Santiago. Jonus." A scowl washed over his face. "What...the...FUCK???"

"What?" Marley asked. "What is it?"

"Why the FUCK is doing on Helyme???"

"Wait, isn't that the place we visited that was being raided by Eclipse a few years back?"

"Yer gaddam right it is. But nobody is supposed to be there. That whole planet is off fucking limits! Fucking Illium has quarantine satellites all over that bloody planet, there's no way he could make landfall without being noticed!"

"So what's the next step? Illium or Helyme?"

"Neither." He put his pistol back on his hip, transferred data from the terminal to his omnitool, shared it with Marley, and headed for the exit. "We're going to Jonus, first."


	2. Secrets and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liara reveals a secret about Marley's private life, and Zaeed has some secrets of his own. Marley believes she may have been lied to.

A little over a year had passed since the relays were destroyed, so travel was limited to barges and some high-speed and FTL frigtes that were doubling as shuttles. Thankfully, luck smiled on the pair twofold in the fact that the Crescent Nebula was a hop away, and a fuel barge was headed to aid in the reconstruction on Illium. From Illium, they hoped that one of Marley's contacts on the planet may have faster travel and would be willing to take them to Pylos. If not, Zaeed planned to do some research on Eldfell-Ashland's fuel depot. 

The barge ride was slow in itself, taking just over fifty hours total, but it allowed for significant time to rest, eat, and take a shower -- and fuel barges always had hot showers. On the eve of the first 24 hours, Marley and Zaeed found the bar in the gut of the enormous ship, where five Batarians were sipping Turian beer and talking about their accomplishments of late.

"I can't believe she's pregnant," one beamed. "With twins." 

"That's how you rebuild, Banan. You make the future with your family."

Marley, sinking slowly into the plush pleather booth seat at the corner table, lamented over a lack of her own, both past and present. No parents to call home to, and no children...but she didn't want to chance the child losing her or the father, as the pain of her own losses was often overwhelming, especially after having enough idle time to think about it. Her inner switch was set to relax and enjoy the moment, so she was trying to do just that. 

The vid screen over the small but well-stocked bar was flashing an upcoming baseball game, which caught Zaeed's attention. "Valencia Vaqueros, huh...isn't that where you're from?"

Marley perked up at his naming of her favorite sports team, just shy of the LA Kings. "My home team, and arguably the best thing to come out of Valencia." She laughed out loud at her next thought, then with a grin, she said it aloud. "Except for me, of course." 

"Oh, you jest," Zaeed grinned. He knew she was joking, and she'd never share that kind of humor with just anyone. They may find her being serious; thus, she'd come across as disgustingly arrogant.

"Of course I jest." She took a drink of the Sur'kesh ginger root ale that Zaeed brought her, audibly expressing her appreciation for its ice cold, crisp, and refreshing flavor. "Wow," she said, studying the green bottle. "This stuff is amazing." 

"I know. Low level energy with that stuff. And it doesn't have any alcohol in it, either."

The two finished their drinks over the game, in which the Mean Green Vaqueros obliterated the Osan Tigers by a 16-4 routing. Around the fourth inning, Marley and Zaeed drummed up a conversation with the five Batarians, and found out one of them was a foreman for the towers project, in which part of the buisness district was being razed and completely rebuilt from the ground up. The comeraderie benefitted everyone in a still-uneasy time.

Setting foot in the taxi station at Illium's market district, Marley and Zaeed headed for the remains of Liara's old office, hoping to find access codes or information she may have left behind. Of course, when they got there, they found the place in pristine condition -- the entire market district was strangely untouched. It was strangely quiet, too.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Zaeed pushed a button on the door and it slid open. "A tornado. You know how it goes through town, but there's a random gas station in the middle of the shit storm, and it wasn't touched -- like even the gaddam salt and pepper shakers and ketchup and mustard bottles are still on the table!"

"Yeah, it does remind me of that." Marley noted his observation as she checked the files on Liara's desk. She uncovered a data pad with the green message light blinking. She went through a few applications, but finally got to the playback button.

"Shepard." It was Liara's voice. "I left this in a place where I knew you would find it. I am sorry that I had to leave so quickly after we returned, and wanted you to know that it is fine if you keep Sam and Bryan close to you while I am away. I know how you need sex, and all. It's not cheating if I know about it and don't mind. What did you call it with Kelly? A hall pass?"

Zaeed raised his eyebrow as he grinned wickedly at Marley, whose eyes had become the size of saucers at Liara's recorded comment. She buried her head in her hands in embarrassment. It was like talking sex in front of her father, who never shunned it, but never ceased to give her a hard time about it, either.

"I also left you a cache of H-fuel in the warehouse, here, including a fighter-class geth ship. The same one we left the dreadnought in, by the way. You can seat two in front, and of course, two more can be stuffed in the back. You may need it. Oh, and the ship does provide a significant length of time in stealth, when necessary. You can thank Oriana Lawson for that addition. One last thing, I found your poetry in the captain's cabin, and stored it here until the Normandy goes through its repairs. It should be safe here."

"You write poetry? Oh, this is getting better and better."

"Shut up, Zaeed." She was serious.

"And the geth ship. You destroyed those fucking machines. Will it even work?"

"We can hope..." 

Before too long, they'd walked the distance from Liara's office to the storage area, and in the docking bay was a geth fighter. Marley opened the canopy, and both climbed inside. 

"HA!!" Zaeed almost hurt his throat. "They have fucking seatbelts in this thing!"

"Put it on, then." She was trying to stay focused on the goal, but bringing up Bryan and Samantha reminded her of the ecstasy she experienced the last time she was with both of them. It became difficult to focus.

"Zaeed doesn't wear seatbelts."

"Oh come on," she pouted, clicking through the holographic terminal that illuminated before her as soon as she put weight in the strangely comfortable bucket seat. "This ship is a gift, make the most of it and put the damn thing on. Freaking whiner."

"Am not!"

"You are too!"

"Am not!"

"You are --" she glared at him after realizing he was mocking her. 

A grin flashed across his face again. "Gotcha!"

"Dammit!" She lightly pounded the ignition sequence activator, and the ship jolted backward before turning around and completing the undocking sequence. Zaeed collapsed in a pile in the space in front of him, then climbed back in his seat and didn't say a word as he put the seatbelt on.

"You're like the daughter I never had, I swear." He waited for Marley to cool off before speaking up, again. "Man, how lucky are we to have a small ship like this? I mean, Liara knows you inside and out...heh...inside and out...and it's like she knew you'd be coming back. Oh, and here's a gaddamn ship to fly around in." He looked out the window as they reached slightly slower than light-speed travel. "I'm surprised she didn't say something about you escorting me to Helyme."

"Wait -- I thought we were headed to Jonus, first." Marley was confused.

"I changed my mind. Let's stop at the depot and see what the dock workers have seen."

"Okay..." Marley rolled her eyes and adjusted the coordinates, and the purple-hued machine veered slightly to port. "To the E-A Depot, then."

The trip was monotonous, except for when Zaeed started singing whatever was on the pirate radio they were getting. It was Salarian music, and reminded Marley of a centuries old Neil Diamond tune. Even though it was in a Salarian language, it sounded like he was singing "Sweeeeet Caroliiiiine..." Marley didn't know the words to any songs from that era, but she knew the "ba ba ba" part, as well as the "hard times never felt so good..." but everything else in the tune was original. 'Some things never change,' she thought.

 

They announced themselves well before appearing on radar, as a geth ship wasn't exactly comforting to anyone, even with the majority of them disappearing again. The Catalyst lied about destroying all synthetics, as it were. EDI, for example, lost her body, but her core processing unit remained in tact, and for the time being, she was once again limited to "living" within the confines of the Normandy while Miranda and a few other ex-Cerberus scientists built her a replacement. Upon docking at the far end of the bay, Zaeed griped about how his stomach was growling, and they went past the souvenir shop and into the diner. They helped themselves to a booth in the center of the near-empty place, and he locked eyes with one four armored men at a nearby table. 

They were wearing hardsuits adorned with the Blue Suns logo. He jumped up and walked over there like an urban cowboy down a dirt road. "Any o'you boys know where Santiago is?" 

"Uh oh," Marley whispered to herself. They were both dressed to fight, but this was an eating establishment.

"Santiago? He's at the Jonus station on an H-Fuel run.

He picked the guy up by the bottom of his chest plate and spat, "don't bullshit me, you gaddam prick, I'm supposed to meet him here."

"Who are you?" He was obviously frightened, but his hand was reaching for his side weapon.

"I'm Zaeed Massani."

The other three mercs, already up and ready to defend their friend, immediately opened fire on him, and he leapt over the counter, pulling the cashier down with him. 

Marley could hear him say "sorry, miss," before more scrambling was heard from his location. Marley zipped from her seat and into a defensable location, opting for her locust as a weapon. She looked over the divider she hid behind. "Well, shit," she groaned, watching helplessly as he grabbed and slung the blue-armored mercenary across the counter, stabbing him in the neck with his omniblade. She peppered the second one with charges from her locust, then shot a cryo blast at the third, who was already shot, so it didn't matter. The fourth fell prostrate, shouting "I know where he is! Please don't kill me!" 

"Oh, gaddamn it, get the fuck up." He picked the remaining mercenary up off the ground and sat him in a chair, then shoved his paladin into the merc's neck. "Now Imma tell you two things. Number one, I know this ain't no gaddamn fuel station. Number two, I know Santiago's here. I want you to tell me one thing: where is he?"

"I -- I don't know. He was supposed to be here three hours ago and he hadn't shown up yet..." 

"Bullshit! Tell me where he is NOW, or I will put the next bullet in your fucking neck!"

"I -- he..." liquid dripped from the chair he was sitting in. "The pool hall. The office there. Please don't kill me..."

He knocked the mercenary out with the barrel of the paladin, then walked out with Marley in tow. "Fucking crybaby." 

"And what do you mean this isn't a fuel depot? Shouldn't we be concerned how to get off this place? Like -- is our ship going to be okay?"

"It'll be fine. Why do you think I had you park it at the end of the bay? If the place blows up, the ship will be safe."

"Um, we won't be safe if the place blows up."

"Trust me sweetie, we'll be fine."

"Stop and tell me what's going on." She tried to grab his arm, but he kept walking. "Dammit, Zaeed, I need to know what's going on!"

He stopped and glared right into her eyes. "We're going to take out Santiago," he sneered viciously. "That's all you need to know."

They went into the pool hall, which was empty. Two voices could be heard in the back office.

"VIDO!!!" Zaeed roared. "Come out and face me like the coward you are." 

'So much for infiltration tactics,' Marley thought. 

The door slammed shut behind them, as did the one to the office. 

"So much violence, Zaeed Massani," Vido sighed through an intercom. "I think you need a nap."

Gas filled the area, and Zaeed instantly collapsed to the ground. Marley felt herself blacking out, as well. Her final thoughts before succumbing to the gas were 'I should have brought my breather helmet...'


	3. Knowledge Is Power

She opened her eyes slowly, letting the glow of the blue sun adorn her bare skin with warmth. Stretching out amidst the supple Egyptian cotton sheets, she let out a muffled moan and sat at the side of the bed. The clock read '7:59am GST' and its radio was playing a modern instrumental piece: something that resembled slow jazz. Her brain seemed to be marinating in the afterglow reminiscent of past sensual experiences, the kind that would start in the late afternoon over glasses of the reddest wine and last all night long. She looked back over the king-sized matress to find it was empty. 

"Hmmm..." she murmered.

On a bench across from that side of the bed, however, was her armor, highly polished and lying neatly next to her freshly cleaned and folded undersuit. Her boots, also shining, were on the floor next to the bench. Her boxerbriefs, socks, and tank top were folded next to the undersuit and armor.  
There was a note resting on top of her visor, which was sitting on the dresser, which was a colorfully gilded Asari piece. It had to be worth a significant amount of credits.

She didn't care to remember how she got there, but that she was there, and she felt like gold. Her skin gave off an aroma of bergamot and cypress, enticing slow, deep breaths as she unabashedly walked to the dresser and removed the note from its resting place. 

Neatly written in all caps, the note read:

TO MARLEY:

NOTHING HAPPENED, I PROMISE. BUT WHEN WE TOOK YOU AND ZAEED FROM THE STATION, I NOTICED ALL OF THE BRUISES AND SCARS ON YOUR NECK. YOU WERE OUT COLD, SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE OKAY TO HAVE MY MEDICAL STAFF CHECK YOU OUT. THEY SUGGESTED MY SPA GIRLS GIVE YOU A FULL MASSAGE AND CLEAN YOU UP. THEY ALSO SAID STOP TAKING THE COLLAR OUT OF YOUR ARMOR AND THE BRUISES WOULD GO AWAY. 

EVERYTHING YOU BROUGHT WITH YOU IS IN THIS ROOM, EVEN YOUR WEAPONS. I DIDN'T TAKE ANYTHING. 

I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOU, AND I HOPE THIS GESTURE IS TAKEN AS A PEACE OFFERING. I WOULDN'T GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT A FULL BREATHER MASK -- THE ATMOSPHERE IS PURE METHANE AND AMMONIA. ACTUALLY DON'T GO OUTSIDE AT ALL. IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, CHECK THE OFFICE. THERE'S A SHUTTLE IN THE GARAGE BAY. JUST CLOSE EVERYTHING BEFORE OPENING THE BAY DOOR.

I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU BEFORE YOU RUN OFF. 

V

"Well, that explains how I got here..." she said. "But where is here?"

The sun's blue glow was entrancing. It reminded her of the strings of lights on Mindoir during the spring festivals. Everything was blue and green. Outside, like those lights, a string of green gas would hover amongst the blue, and change the entire house into a wash of lime. Maybe that's why all of the furniture was white -- otherwise, it wouldn't reflect the feel of the air all around the place. From the bedroom, she went downstairs -- a long descent down -- into the living room. Obviously it would be underground: it was probably safer, that way. 

She was still naked when she sat on the couch. Nobody else was home, and she didn't really care to put anything on. She felt the best she had ever felt, and was wondering why she shunned all of the spa trips that Samantha always wanted to take her on. Even her bruises, which she got from the neck pieces of the armor that she took the collars out of, didn't hurt as bad. The collars felt stuffy and weren't necessary for life support, so she always took them out. Flexibility and agility at the cost of comfort, even if they often left ligature-style bruises.

She sat for a moment and enjoyed the slow silence, then hopped back to the bedroom and put on all but her hardsuit. She sat on the bench where the clothes were folded and stared at her armor. It was polished as new, and even the scuffs were removed. In all of her life, she couldn't remember anyone treating her or her things like this. It felt like a kind gesture, and it was a shame she had to be knocked out for it. Of course, if she were awake, she'd probably have blown something up trying to defend herself. Something deep down inside suggested she didn't deserve it or shouldn't take the time for it. She took great care of herself, yes, but she never really let anyone take care of her.

After letting the feeling sit within her, she put her armor on over the suit and affixed her visor to her head, letting it sync with her omnitool's neural transmitter. It was a great idea to get the wrist-cuff computer implanted into her forearm like she did -- all the tech upgrades stayed with her and were easily updated at market kiosks as they became available. What she first scoffed at as a passing fad became a very efficient addition to her physical body. 

Down the stairs again, and further into the house, she found a coffee maker with a note attached that read "JUST TURN ME ON."

"Vido, you have no idea, right now," she smirked as she flicked the power button.

That was another thing she took the time to notice. Two hundred years of technical advances, and coffee was still made by placing grinds into a filter and passing hot water over it into a carafe. 

"What is the date, anyway?" She peered into the tiny screen on her visor, which read '1 August 2187.' "Oh my gosh...I've been out for three days?!?"

Matching the time passed to the color of the atmosphere, she was certain she had to be on Jonus. There were many blue gas planets, but Jonus was the only place that fit in with the situation. "But why here?"

She poured her coffee black, and added a spoon full of raw cane sugar to sweeten it up, then sat back down on the couch. Inhaling the vapors, then taking a sip, she recalled everything she knew. Eldfell-Ashland was in pieces after the Reaper War, as the machines attempted to destroy all fuel sources. Their main plants were on moons that surrounded five different planets...or was it six? Two of Jonus' moons were host to one of their biggest refineries, but it blew up during the Reaper invasion. The Tasale depot was a front that hosted Blue Suns mercenaries, and Vido was the Suns' leader. An expanded Blue Suns presence meant that something was going on between them and EAE. But was it necessarily bad?

On top of that, Zaeed wasn't keen on sharing anything he knew, just that he wanted Vido, presumably dead. And Vido was treating Marley like a queen, at this point. Was he sincerely trying to be nice, or was he buttering her up to ease her reaction to a future discovery?

She waltzed back to the coffee pot for another cup and noticed the tri-planed window was steaming up, signaling how cold it was outside. Ice cold. "It probably costs a fortune to heat this place, except the air is a fuel source, so it's probably cheap." Taking a sip from her second cup, she added, "or free..." She shrugged and sat back down, finishing the next cup in pensive silence.

"None of this makes any sense," she said aloud. "I mean, every place I go, when I'm looking for something, there's a datapad laying around, opened message terminals, intel...but this?" She took the white porcelain cup to the sink and leaned against the counter with her arms crossed. "Nothing." A smile slowly crept across her face. It grew bigger and bigger until her pearly white teeth showed. "I wonder if I could get him alone..."

With a sudden spark of significant satisfaction, she said, "I could use some quality alone time with someone..."

Marley made the bed, grabbed her guns, and turned off the coffee pot, then rinsed the cup and left it hanging on the "used cups" rack. She did as instructed as she left the residential part of the house, ensuring everything was sealed before entering the garage bay, which was ice cold inside. She quickly climbed into the shuttle and powered it on, waiting for the heater to kick in, then opened the bay door and left. The door automatically closed behind it. 

The call mechanism on the car's interface began beeping, and she hit the button to accept the incoming transmission. "Marley, it's Vido. I apologize for everything, I --"

"No need to apologize, Vido, except where am I going, and who will be there?"

"I don't care where you go. You're free to leave if you wish. You got my note, right?"

"I did get your note, and thanks for the spa team. I admit I feel great. But what is this all about? Where's Zaeed? What's going on? And -- I'd like to meet you alone."

"Well that was quick." Vido chuckled. "I think you're a little young for me." He waited for a minute, then added, "I am kidding, by the way. I flirt when I'm nervous."

"We're both adults, regardless," she replied, then asked, "I am leaving Jonus, right?"

"Look, if you want to see me, go back to where you were, and let me come to you. I can't risk being out in the open."

"Sure thing. Do you have an ETA?"

"Three hours tops, I'm at Fargone. And check your GPS, of course you're on Jonus...as if the atmosphere didn't give it away." He cleared his throat. "Sorry, just a little agitated."

"No problem. Will see you in three hours."

She disconnected the transmission, then sighed and rolled her eyes. "What is it with the indecisive people? Geez, he's just like Zaeed. Of course, they do go back quite a ways. Used to be good friends or something like that."

The garage bay door opened, and she eased the shuttle back into it's place, waited for the door to close and the room to clear out before quickly exiting and running through the icy chill of the air and into the warm house. She jogged back up the stairs to the bedroom, removed her armor and weapons, thinking twice about just throwing them into a pile; instead, she opted to respect her belongings by folding them like they were presented to her.

She pulled the note from her pocket and reread it, then went into the office, which was another level down. There, she saw a similar terminal to the one that was in the war room on Omega. It showed Vido as being somewhere near Fargone, just as he said. It showed Zaeed being on Fargone, and illuminated other persons of interest, as well. None were of interest to Marley, though she recognized some of the names. What piqued her attention was the fact that she wasn't on there. "Maybe he doesn't have a problem with me."

Her curiosity got the better of her, and she perused neatly-sorted documents in his file cabinet. She learned how the Suns began and why Zaeed was expelled from the group. She shared similar sentiments toward Batarians as Zaeed did, but only when mad and hurling condemning thoughts toward them. She never held anything against the species as a whole, but a mess of them were bad apples. Feeling awkward for going through Vido's files, she put everything back the way it was, only leaving out the folder that contained the early transcriptions of the two men's messages, and closed it shut.

As she walked back up the stairs to the living room, she spied Vido coming in through the entrance. "Hey, thanks for parking, um," he turned and motioned back toward the garage bay, "closer to the front. Guess you knew I'd be using a shuttle to get here."

"I just put it back where I found it." She went to the coffee maker. "Coffee?" 

Taking his charcoal colored overcoat off, he responded, "wine, actually...I was hoping..."

"Yeah," she exhaled. "Me too." She opened the wine cabinet under the island cabinet, which highlighted the grey granite and oak wood of the kitchen with a lighter grey top, and asked, "red, white, or --"

"Reisling is in there. There's a bottle of 2180 in there. Pop that open."

She did as requested, pouring both them a glass of wine before sitting on the other side of the L-shaped couch. She took a sip from the glass. "I only know you because of what I've heard from Zaeed...annnd I admit I looked in one of the files in your cabinet -- I left it out so you can see what I know...but I really don't know you."

He drank from his glass and replied, "I'm Vido Santiago, of course. I co-founded the Suns with Zaeed, and somewhere down the line, I met some tactically smart Batarians who wanted to help with the cause, so I recognized their work and moved them up the ladder over time. Zaeed can't stand Batarians, and these guys were doing great work. Clean work. Efficient work. The kind of work that made us more money. Zaeed was becoming a hazard to our team, and I had to let him go." He took another drink. "Almost killed his sorry ass over it, too." He went into the kitchen. "I think I'm going to need some brandy."

"I think I'll take what you're having."

He struggled to add more to the story, evident that he felt some facet of remorse over all of it. "I just..." He sighed. "Trust is a big issue with me, and I know your reputation is golden...but I can't really...I don't know if --"

"I know a good ice breaker." Marley cast sheep's eyes his direction, and he knew what she was after. "It's a good way to both get to know each other and relieve some obvious stress at the same time."

He stared at her, a hint of subtle desire in his own eyes. "How old are you?"

"Thirty three." Another drink. "Why?"

"Oh, ok," he sighed with relief. "Not that much younger than me."

"What does that mean?"

"My range is 'born before I started college' to 'was at most in high school when i was born'."

She giggled. "My age range is old enough and takes care of themselves."

"Yeah, but you're not an old man like me."

"How old are you?"

"Forty Seven."

"That's not old." After a sip of the caramel-colored liquor, she added, "Older than I'm used to, but not old..."

"With age comes experience," he winked. Then he grimaced. "Wait, you're not a 'fuck 'em or kill 'em' kind of gal, are ya?"

"We'll see about that." She finished her brandy and started up the stairs. "Come see me."

He only had on a pair of loose pants and a white undershirt when he walked into the bedroom. She presented herself only in a tank top and socks, covered where necessary by the down-filled comforter as she knelt in the center of the bed. Her eyes drifted down to his already bulging crotch, then back up the center of his well-formed torso, tracing around his goatee, over his lips, the tip of his nose, and finally to his eyes. He straddled over her, observing the curvature of the muscles in her defined shouolders as she removed his shirt and placed her warm hands on the fuzzy curls that adorned his rock hard chest. He pulled her tank off and wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on the small of her back, finding her spine and tracing it up to her short coif, pulling her head back with a tease. She moaned in approval when he planted his mouth around the center of her neck, sucking gently. The soft sounds of an Asari sensory group echoed over the silent drift of their movements, melded in unison. 

As he pulled away with a brush of his tongue on the divot where her collar bones met, she gasped. Her hands pulled at the latch on his pants, opening them and revealing his master of the moment. Slowly cupping around his scrotum, she met her lips to his, and they shared a deep kiss. The way they moved, there was going to be no need for much foreplay. He gently laid her back onto the bed, still locked in a kiss, and moved his hand into the center of her open legs. He found her delicate pot was already full of honey, and his shaft was prepared. 

He guided the tip of his length to her entrance and instantly thrust inward as he plunged his tongue deeper into her hungry mouth. She bucked against his generosity with involuntary jolts of ecstasy: a premature climax. A snake on its prey, he gave her no room to break free from either connection, pushing himself further and deeper into her shocked body. She fought against him, feeling a second orgasmic wave come over her. It was part fear from the sudden rush of her body's intense euphoric convulsions, part demand that he keep her there -- it was how she prefered the dance. She could feel him grow inside of her with each motion, taking up what felt like every inch of room she had in her burrow, and a third seismic wave hit over the second. He wasn't going to let her go until he was finished, himself, pushing deeper and deeper, harder and harder, until she forced her mouth away from his and gasped desperately for air; the act that made him come. 

When he was finished, he pushed her legs out of the way and licked the blend of their resonance from her portal, then headed for the bathroom to retrieve two towels so he could clean them up with. After satisfied, he jumped in bed beside her.

Both of them were out of breath, and she was trembling. "Cold?" He asked.

"Hell no," she breathed. "That was...that was awesome!" 

"Fuck 'em or kill 'em, right?" He quizzed.

"Or fuckin' kill 'em," she quipped. "But I think that was all experience, there. Oh my gosh that was awesome. If I wasn't shaking, I'd ask for another round."

He laughed out loud at her glowing review. "Well thanks, you're a fine opponent on that battle field, we should kill each other again, some time."

"But wait, now that we know each other, I have some questions."


	4. Resolution

The porcelain plates were filled with eggs, toast, and strips of varren bacon, something Marley used to huff about, since it wasn't an earthborn food source. But over time, she learned to enjoy the turkey-flavored meat. She chose another cup of coffee to go with the meal, and Vido had a tall glass of water.

The two sat quietly, at first, beginning their meal with a shared sense of gratitude and relief. Marley was biding time until she could dig into what he knew. The decision to get dressed and make dinner was a good one, albeit one that merely prolonged their conversation. She bit first. "So where's Zaeed? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He's not gonna be hurt."

"Unlike your guards that we killed."

"Those guards are wanted criminals with steep bounties. Each one you two killed brings me 50,000 credits or more." He swallowed the bit of food in his mouth and followed that with a drink of water. "I made sure nobody worth saving would be put in the line of fire."

"Does that include the cashier in that diner?"

"She's a former Cerberus operative. I believe she said she was a phantom at one time or another. She can handle herself."

"An Asari working for Cerberus?" 

"Hey, she can fight, and she had the right references that backed her up."

"So, from the top," Marley put her fork down and looked him in the eye. "What is going on?"

Vido's broad shoulders dropped as he exhaled, then he took a sharp breath and began, "Zaeed wanted to make amends for the past, and I am willing to talk things out. The last time he saw me, he was coming at me again with a band of mercs, and the Reapers decided to crash the party. He saw me get carried off by a ravager. What he doesn't know is that I had a flash grenade in my belt, and I shoved it down that zombie bird's throat. Blew his entire head off. I landed about five miles from where we were fighting, but I couldn't find them. When I found out he was still alive, I sent word to certain people to let him know I was still around. That's when he asked to meet."

"But why all the cloak and dagger?"

"Because I can't be seen in public, and Zaeed can't be seen being civil towards me. The only reason I gassed both of you was because I didn't recognize you. I thought he may have set me up, again, and when you were on Zorya, you had a full mask on. You might be Marley Shepard, but I wouldn't have been able to pick you out on the street."

"You're grown men, why bring me into this?" 

"We were hoping for an unbiased third party."

"Explain the slave labor you had going on at the refinery on Z, then."

"It wasn't slave labor, it was a ruse to drum up Ashland's need for more security, which we gladly offered to him at only half as much more than regular cost."

"A set up to earn more money."

"Yup. We ended up staying when rumors of the Reaper invasion began."

"So what about now?"

"I'm helping Jonah -- Jonah Ashland -- with rebuilding the refineries. The Suns have a lot of Batarians in our ranks, so I offered some decent work that is worth enough to help them as a species. They have decent housing, decent work, and a place for their families to stay, and basic goods and services offered, so nobody is too distant or without assistance. In the meantime, I have mixed teams working on razing and rebuilding on Khar'shan while some ex Cerberus folks wrap up their work on the comm buoys. Cerberus was a huge organization, you know. Ol' Miri inherited a handful from The Illusive Man."

"Wait, Miranda's overseeing what's left?"

"Sure is. She's putting them to good use. They're not pro-human, anymore, either. They are keeping our race in the eye of the high-ups, but she's not treating them like a splinter group, any longer."

"Hmm, I thought she severed ties for good..."

"Look, I'm really sorry." He put down his utensils and finished his waterm then took his dishes to the sink. "We weren't trying to trick you, but I didn't want anyone else knowing we were meeting up, I didn't care who it was. Like I said, if I'd known it was you, though, I'd have probably thought twice about gassing you. You've been through a lot, and I --"

"Vido..." She put her hand on his shoulder. "It's nothing. I've been through a lot worse than a room full of chloroform." She followed his lead, bringing her empty plate and coffee cup. "We rectified any differences when we were upstairs."

For being such a strong-shaped man, his posture was that of defeat. "I know, I just...I have a lot more respect for you than to do something like that. And you're so chilled out about it."

"Well," her gaze trailed upward as she drifted into "the spa treatment definitely didn't hurt anything...and cleaning up my gear...and --"

"Take it at face value. A gesture of kindness." 

"Noted." 

They returned to the living area, and Vido was visibly tired. "Zaeed is offering to help police the streets of Khar'shan for looters and rioters. His presence alone should drop the crime rate at least 60 percent, but you know how Batarians can be."

"You know, all he had to say was that you two were having a private meeting and he needed an escort in case things got hairy, or just be honest about it and say that you two needed a mediator."

"Yeah, but you know how he is."

"I do. Maybe that explains why he was trying to strike up a conversation with those Batarians on the barge we caught a ride on. Because he is sincere about wanting to drop his anger."

The communications channel in his office started beeping, and he hit a button on his omni tool to let the call through. "Zaeed."

"Hey Vido, did you wake up sleepyhead?"

"I did, we talked, and she knows."

"And? What did she say?"

"I said all you two had to tell me was the truth. You were meeting privately and needed a mediator."

"Yeah well," Zaeed said. "You know me." 

"Yep. Hey, Zaeed, you'll do fine."

"Thank you, Marley."

"Any time." 

Vido disconnected the comm channel and stood up. "I guess that's it, new friend. If you ever get bored, I'm sure I can help you find something to do."

Marley chuckled. "I'm sure you could." As much as she enjoyed their interlude, she knew it would most likely be a one time thing.


End file.
